June 29

Highlights of the day

1849 Montréal newspapers print Annexation Manifesto, joining US a remedy for depression.
1908 First Dominion Exhibition opens in Calgary; origin of Calgary Stampede.
1922 France formally transfers ownership of 100 hectares at Vimy Ridge to Canada.

List of Facts for June 29

1534 Jacques Cartier explores north and west shores of Prince Edward Island, but thinks it part of the mainland; notes ‘the loveliest climate you could ever see, and great heat’. - PEI
1603 Samuel de Champlain reaches Lac St. Pierre; Cartier’s Lac Angoulème; enters mouth of Richelieu River; journeys upriver to St-Ours Rapids. - Chambly, Québec
1701 Jacques-François de Brouillan arrives in Acadia as commander; Governor from 1702 to 1705. - Annapolis, Nova Scotia
1749 Charles de la Ralière, new Governor of Isle Royale (Cape Breton Island), arrives to take possession for France. - Louisbourg, Nova Scotia
1767 British Parliament passes the Townshend Revenue Act; colonists to pay extra import duties for salaries of colonial governors and judges. - London, England
1786 Alexander Macdonnell leaves west highlands with 526 Catholic emigrants for Canada; they will settle west of Montréal in Glengarry County, Ontario, and build a church called ‘The Blue Chapel’. - Scotland
1788 Captain John Meares on the Felice Adventurer sights an inlet that he names the Strait of Juan de Fuca; explores the strait, and determines it isn’t the Northwest Passage; names a snow-covered mountain to the south Mount Olympus, previously named Santa Rosalia by Juan Perez in 1774. BC
1789 Alexander Mackenzie enters a river flowing northwest from Great Slave Lake after hearing about salt water from the Yellowknife Indians; the Mackenzie River (later named after him) takes him to the Mackenzie Delta, and the beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean on July 10, 1789; the North West Company partner is trying to find a way to ship furs to the west coast. - Hay River, NWT
1837 Rebellion of 1837 - Patriote assembly at Montréal demands democratic rights. - Montréal, Québec
1849 Montréal newspapers print Annexation Manifesto, supporting annexation to the US as a possible remedy for commercial depression. - Montréal, Québec
1850 Coal discovered on Vancouver Island; will prove valuable for refueling Royal Navy ships and CPR trains. - Nanaimo, BC
1864 Grand Trunk Railway train runs through an open switch at a bridge over the Richelieu River near St. Hilaire, Québec - 99 killed in Canada’s worst railway disaster. Beloeil, Québec
1871 British Parliament grants assent to 34-35 Victoria, Chapter 28: An Act respecting the establishment of Provinces in the Dominion of Canada (The British North America Act, 1871); Canada permitted to establish new provinces. - London, England
1891 Ahearn & Soper (Thomas Ahearn and Warren Soper) start operating their Ottawa Street Railway Company with four electric tram cars; First street car service in Ottawa; origin of OC Transpo. - Ottawa, Ontario
1892 Theodore Davie sworn in as Premier of British Columbia, replacing John Robson, who died in office; serves to March 2, 1895. - Victoria, BC
1895 Doukhobor conscripts in Russian army mutiny; many decide to leave for Canada. Russia
1897 Alien Labour Act receives royal assent. - Ottawa, Ontario
1897 Parliament passes An Act respecting British Columbia Southern Railway Co. (60-61 Victoria, Chap.36); permits BC Southern to extend itself eastward across the Alberta border to the Calgary and Macleod Railway and Lethbridge, Alberta. - Ottawa, Ontario
1897 Parliament passes An Act to incorporate the Columbia River Bridge Company (60-61 Victoria C 66 ); capitalized to $500,000; headquarters, Trail, BC. F.A. Heinze, President.
1897 Parliament passes An Act to authorize subsidy for Crow’s Nest Line (60-61 Victoria, Chap.5); Crow’s Nest Pass Agreement becomes Law. Ottawa, Ontario
1897 Parliament passes act granting an $11,000/mile subsidy to the British Columbia Southern Railway Co (60-61 Victoria C 5); requires the line to pass within 500 yards of Macleod’s town limits. - Ottawa, Ontario
1897 Parliament passes act (60-61 Victoria C 41) allowing the Columbia and Kootenay Navigation and Railway Company to connect its line to the CPR Mainline at Revelstoke, BC. - Ottawa, Ontario
1898 First through passenger train across Newfoundland leaves St. Johns at 19:20 and arrives Port aux Basques at 22:45, June 30, 1898. - St. John’s, Newfoundland
1906 CP ocean liner Empress of Ireland departs on maiden voyage to Québec; will sink on 96th voyage, May 29 1914. - Liverpool, England
1908 First Dominion Exhibition opens in Calgary; origin of Calgary Stampede. - Calgary, Alberta
1912 Empress Theatre opens. - Macleod, Alberta
1914 Ontario Election - James Whitney’s Conservatives win a fourth consecutive majority. Ontario
1915 North Saskatchewan River, 48 feet above normal level, floods parts of Edmonton. - Edmonton, Alberta
1920 Edith Rogers becomes the First woman elected to the Manitoba Legislature. - Manitoba
1922 Meeting of 1500 Plains Indians at the Samson Reserve in Alberta to form the League of Indians of Canada; many are First World War veterans unsatisfied with their soldier resettlement grants. - Samson Reserve, Alberta
1922 France formally transfers ownership of 100 hectares at Vimy Ridge to Canada; German bastion along Vimy Ridge won by all four divisions of the Canadian Corps at Easter 1917; Parks Canada now operates the Vimy memorial park and monument dedicated by Edward VIII in 1936. This land is not strictly speaking part of Canada, but France granted freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes. Unlike an embassy, it is subject to the laws of France. Walter Allward’s famous sculpture, Weeping Woman, is in the centre of the memorial. - Vimy, France
1925 King George V opens Canada House in Trafalgar Square; new HQ for Canadian High Commission. - London, England
1926 King-Byng Affair - Arthur Meighen appointed Prime Minister following King-Byng controversy; in power to September 25, 1926. - Ottawa, Ontario
1927 Wallace Turnbull tests his variable-pitch propeller on an Avro 504 trainer for the First time; the aeronautical engineer from Rothesay, New Brunswick has created one of Canada’s great global inventions. - Camp Borden, Ontario
1930 Pope Pius XI canonizes Jean de Brébeuf and 7 other Jesuit martyrs, killed for their faith in the 1600s; the First North American saints. - Rome, Italy
1932 Application made to incorporate the Rossland Co-operative Transportation Society of Rossland, BC. - Victoria, BC
1937 Joseph-Armand Bombardier patents his Bombardier B-7 Snow Tractor, a seven-passenger tracked machine costing $7,500; the inventor produced his First Snowmobile in 1923, after a personal tragedy, when he couldn’t make it to the nearest hospital during a blizzard, and lost an infant son. See: Corporate History of Bombardier - Valcourt, Québec
1944 Second World War - Second Canadian Corps under Guy Simonds sent to join the British Second Army in the Caen sector with the British Eighth Army on its left and the First Canadian Corps on its right; a second Infantry Division is sent immediately since infantry casualties are heavy; Crerar is told his First Army headquarters are not required in the line at present. - Camilly, France
1954 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill starts two-day visit to Ottawa with Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden. - Ottawa, Ontario
1955 Alberta Election: Ernest Manning leads Alberta Social Credit Party to a sixth consecutive majority. Alberta
1963 Tornado strikes Spy Hill, killing one person and injuring two. - Spy Hill, Saskatchewan
1965 Québec Chief Justice Frédéric Dorion issues report showing official bribery to free suspected drug smuggler; causes resignation of federal Justice Minister Guy Favreau. - Québec, Québec
1967 Queen Elizabeth II starts week-long visit to Canada with Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate the Canadian Centennial.
1967 Record 111.8 cm of snow falls on Livingston Ranger Station, the heaviest summer snowfall in Canadian history. - Livingston, Alberta
1971 Post Office tower in Cranbrook, BC, demolished.
1972 Supreme Court of Canada rules that under current law motorists can seek legal counsel before taking alcohol breath tests. - Ottawa, Ontario
1973 Ottawa puts export controls on trade in oilseeds and products, to slow cut of animal feedstock; extended to include edible oils, animal fat and protein feeds. - Ottawa, Ontario
1974 Russian ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from Soviet Union while on tour in Canada with the Bolshoi Ballet; helped by Globe & Mail dance critic John Fraser; granted permission to stay. - Toronto, Ontario
1974 Orillia, Ontario, folk singer Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown stays at #1 on the Billboard pop singles chart for the second week. - New York, New York
1983 France and Québec agree to build jointly-financed $1.5 billion aluminum smelter at Bécancour; 130 km north east of Montréal. - Bécancour, Québec
1983 Ottawa lets $3.2 billion contract for six new Canadian Navy patrol frigates; $650 million to refit four ships. - Ottawa, Ontario
1984 Montréal Expos Pete Rose plays in his record 3,309th career major league game, surpassing Carl Yastrzemski for most games played. - Montréal, Québec
1985 Vancouver businessman Jimmy Pattison pays $2.229,000 for a yellow Rolls-Royce formerly owned by the Beatles. - Vancouver, BC
1985 Montréal rocker Gino Vannelli’s Black Cars peaks at #42 on the Billboard pop singles chart. - New York, New York
1985 Yankee Dave Winfield’s 8th inning Grand Slammer beats the Toronto Blue Jays 15-14 after Jays blow 11-4 lead; Mattingly also Grand slams; Winfield will later become a member of the World Series winning Jays team. - New York, New York
1990 Dave Stewart of the Oakland A’s pitches a no-hitter as he beats the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 at SkyDome; Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers also pitches a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6-0 victory at Dodger Stadium; First pitchers to toss complete-game no-hitters in both the National and American Leagues on the same day. - Toronto, Ontario
1990 Gilles Bernier and Richard Grise charged by RCMP with two counts of fraud and breach of trust in connection with two contracts; Bernier MP for Beauce, Grise ex-MP for Chambly. - Ottawa, Ontario
1990 Liberal and PQ leaders Robert Bourassa and Jacques Parizeau agree to form non-partisan commission to study Québec’s constitutional future. - Québec, Québec
1992 NHL awards the Eric Lindros contract to Flyers instead of the New York Rangers; originally drafted by the Québec Nordiques, Lindros refused to sign with them because they were a small market team, and so the issue went to league arbitration. - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1995 Memphis Mad Dogs play their First CFL game, against the Calgary Stampeders; part of a Canadian Football League attempt to expand to the US. Calgary, Alberta
1996 Canadian Space Agency astronaut and NASA Payload Specialist Dr. Robert Thirsk, on Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-78 talks with students at Maple Grove Education Center in Nova Scotia via the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment; also participates in a series of arm tests measuring the turning effect on muscles when force is applied, using the Torque Velocity Dynamometer; also tests in thinking skills, and in determining how the head and eyes track visual and motion targets in microgravity. - Space
1996 Ottawa rocker Alanis Morrissette performs eight songs from her hit album Jagged Little Pill before 150,000 people in London’s Hyde Park; other performers include Eric Clapton, Ron Woods, Bob Dylan and The Who; the all-day event raises about £750,000 for Prince Charles’ Prince’s Trust charity. - London, England
1999 International Trade Minister Sergio Marchi tells the Commons that the government will review relations with Cuba after prominent Cuban dissidents are put on trial in Havana. - Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Opening of The Rooms, a cultural facility housing the Newfoundland and Labrador art gallery, provincial historical museum and provincial archives. St. John’s, Newfoundland